The MMO industry moves along at the speed of information, and sometimes we’re deluged with so much news here at Massively Overpowered that some of it gets backlogged. That’s why there’s The MOP Up: a weekly compilation of smaller MMO stories and videos that you won’t want to miss. Seen any good MMO news? Hit us up through our tips line!

Maplestory players are getting a fun treat in the form of a crossover with classic ’90s anime Evangelion later this month.

“The heroes of Evangelion have entered Maple World through an inter-dimensional rift, allowing players to interact with characters from the movies while taking part in various events and quests,” Nexon said in its press blast this week. “The Evangelion pilots are lost in their new surroundings in Maple World, so players are tasked with completing daily quests to help them navigate and become more familiar. Maplers can interact with Shinji, Rei and Asuka to earn EVA Coins to spend on limited-time items and must fend off waves of invasions from Angel enemies to save Maple World.”

The event features themed quests as well as paid and questable lockboxes galore, with accessories, hairstyles, androids, and chairs (yes) as rewards. The festivities begin on February 28th and run for a whole month; the trailer is below!

If you want SuperData’s complete 2017 Digital Games & Interactive Media market brief, you’re… not going to have to pay for it. It’s free, or at least the “executive summary” is, assuming you’re willing to put in an address to get it. Here are some of the more interesting highlights from the doc.

MMORPG players, take note: Guild Wars 2 is included on the top 10 premium PC games by revenue for 2017. It’s at #8 with $87M.

There are a few MMOs on the top free-to-play games by revenue for 2017 list too, including Blade & Soul, MapleStory, and Roblox. (We’re not quite sure why World of Warcraft isn’t on either list.)

Maplestory is one of those MMOs that runs quietly under the radar but manages to have a massive following all the same. Will Maplestory M, its mobile spinoff, amass the same sort of loyalty? We’ll see, and soon, as today it’s kicked off a global beta for Android players that runs through January 30th.

Maplestory M will reportedly offer new playable characters in addition to familiar friends, plus the typical assortment of mobile content: daily dungeons, boss mobs, power-up jewels, a new forging system, and something called private mini-dungeons. Ten-man raids are also on offer.

According to Nexon, the game became the top-ranked free-to-play game in Korea on both iOS and Android when it launched in the region in 2016. Formal release in the west is expected “later this year” for both platforms.

For what it’s worth, I’m downloading the game as I write this; I was surprised to see that it will run on both my brand-new phone and my antique that’s four years old, so your kid’s hand-me-down toaster might just run this.

The MMO industry moves along at the speed of information, and sometimes we’re deluged with so much news here at Massively Overpowered that some of it gets backlogged. That’s why there’s The MOP Up: a weekly compilation of smaller MMO stories and videos that you won’t want to miss. Seen any good MMO news? Hit us up through our tips line!

Maplestory ought to be on your radar as one of those cutesy veteran sandbox MMOs with more content than you can finish in a lifetime. That’s probably because Nexon lavishes updates upon it, including the one that dropped this week. It’s called Nova: Liberation of Cadena, and Cadena, if you’re wondering, is a person: “a streetwise Thief raised by the Shadowdealers, and hardened by the rough-and-tumble backwater town of Savage Terminal,” who “utilizes her Luck in preparation for revenge against the dastardly Magnus, and wields her trusty chain to ravage her enemies.”

In addition to the new toon, the update introduces a fifth tier of job skills for all classes, a massive achievement system, the new Spirit Savior dungeon, and a new event series with sweet rewards, including a chance to rename your character. The base game will also include additions that belong to the “Better Maple” initiative (not “Butter Maple” as I first typed, but that sounds delish, right?):

Break out the whips and chains: You’ve been a very good video gamer. At least, MapleStory hopes so, because you’re being given one feisty character to control.

The 2-D MMO introduced a new character this week, Cadena. She’s a close combat fighter who isn’t shy about getting to know her enemies: “Armed with her trusty chain, Cadena can swing to different platforms or pull an enemy in close to her. She also has the ability to master various weapon types, and can smash enemies with skills highlighting a shuriken, shotgun, and spiked bat!”

The Liberation of Cadena update doesn’t stop there, however. The team also added 5th job skills for all categories, with abilities such as Etheral Form, Overdrive, and Chain Arts: Fury. Improvements that are on their way to MapleStory following this patch include more character slots, an in-game news service, and an achievement system.

The MMO industry moves along at the speed of information, and sometimes we’re deluged with so much news here at Massively Overpowered that some of it gets backlogged. That’s why there’s The MOP Up: a weekly compilation of smaller MMO stories and videos that you won’t want to miss. Seen any good MMO news? Hit us up through our tips line!

The MMO industry moves along at the speed of information, and sometimes we’re deluged with so much news here at Massively Overpowered that some of it gets backlogged. That’s why there’s The MOP Up: a weekly compilation of smaller MMO stories and videos that you won’t want to miss. Seen any good MMO news? Hit us up through our tips line!

Two years ago, NCsoft dealt a harsh blow to a certain subset of gaming fans when it canned the development of Project HON. This MMO was to be a glorious exercise in mecha combat, but scandals and a decision to reallocate development resources meant that it was never to be.

So where can that kid who grew up playing with giant robots go to get a Voltron, Transformers, or Macross fix these days? While many MMOs offer the occasional mech experience, there aren’t as many games that go all-in on that Pacific Rim experience.

But in the interests of a thought experiment and because I have fond memories of slapping five metal lions together to form the ultimate defender of the universe, here are 10 online games that offered or still do offer the thrill of high-tech mech and robot warfare.

Can you believe MapleStory is 12 years old? I had to double-check it myself. In fact, it’s older than 12, though it’s 12 here in North America. Nexon recently sent over an infographic to drill down some of the other stats behind the cutesy sandbox MMORPG. Of note, the studio points out the game has almost 275M characters, 1.5M of whom are close to the cap and half a million of whom are married in-game, which is too cute. There are 2.7M guilds, 1.2M players paying into the MVP system, and 28M characters sporting the Magician class – easily the most popular. My favorite stat is pets purchased: 77M. That’s a lot of pets. Almost 5M of those are pandas!

Hey, you. Yeah, you, dude leeching candy from the bucket you bought “for the neighborhood kids.” And you, lady still trying to decide between “Princess Leia” and “lazy zombie” for your costume (go Leia, duh). Put all that aside and get into some MMOs instead! Halloween is only one night in real life, but in MMORPGs, it goes on for days or even weeks. Some studios will probably even forget to turn it off! Others will let you run around with a flaming pumpkin head mask for all eternity!

Here’s what we’re looking at this year for Halloween across the MMORPG verse.

In Dark and Light, Gobboween has descended on the gameworld. Expect prowling wolves, enchanted jack-o-lanterns, pumpkin seeds, elite teleporting mobs, candy, and even a scythe tool if you want to run around ganking people while pretending to be the grim reaper.